@database ViewPort_Mar94.guide @width 77 @height 30 @wordwrap @node Main "*StarShip* Viewport" . *StarShip* @{" ViewPort " link Main} @{" ViewPort March 1994 Table of Contents " link Main } @{" Click Me To Enable Graphics!! " system "setenv viewer WDisplay"} @{" Film at Eleven " link film "Film at Eleven" } A Time for Heroes @{" Letters... We Get Letters " link letters "Letters" } Letters to ViewPort @{" An ARexx Personal Help System " link phelp "Personal Help"} Help at the Touch of a Key @{" Prince's Pen " link toon "Prince's Pen"} Nancy Catches us Singing the Blues @{" The Amigaphile " link phile "Amiga Files"} Loriann Babbit? Don't ask! @{" CSM and the Annual Meeting " link share "Commodore Update"} Commodore's Annual Meeting @{" MegaD Version 3.2 " link megad "MegaD 3.2"} The Directory Utility Gets Better @{" Fighter Duel Pro 2 " link fdpro2 "FighterDuel Pro 2"} JSP Flies High with FDPro2 @{" Instructional Media Design " link imdesign "Design Tips"} Tips on Presentation Methods @{" The Settlers " link settlers "Settlers"} Economics 201 - Winning the Game @{" Making VPLOGO in Helm " link logo "VPLOGO"} Scripting Techniques for Helm @{" Amiga Artist in Residence " link artist "Artist in Residence"} Zak Jarvis - the *StarShip*'s Featured Artist @{" ViewPort Staff " link Staff } Notes about the ViewPort Gang @{" About This Issue " link Info } Notes About This Issue @{" Copyrights " link Cprght } ViewPort Copyrights @{" Signup Info " link GEnie } Signup Instructions for GEnie @{" Set Up Viewer " link setup } Use a Viewer Other Than WDisplay March 1994 Editor: Jim Meyer Volume 3 Number 2 (V3.2) Publisher: Peggy Herrington Producer: deb Christensen Contributing Sylvia Lutnes Editors: Nick Cook @{" Next Page " link Cprght} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" First Article " link film} @EndNode @Node Cprght "*StarShip* ViewPort Copyrights" ViewPort is a *StarShip*(tm) Production available on @{"GEnie®" link genie}. For details and information about contributing, send GE Mail to @{"JIM.MEYER" link jimm} or send Internet mail to jim.meyer@genie.geis.com. Copyright © 1994 *StarShip*. Freely distributable when kept intact. @EndNode @Node genie Joining GEnie is easy! Use half duplex (local echo) at 300/1200/2400 baud. Dial 1-800-638-8369 (Canada 1-800-387-8330). At CONNECT, type HHH. At the U#= prompt, type AMIGA and press Return. Have a major credit card or your checking account number handy. @EndNode @node film Film at Eleven by @{"Jim Meyer" link jimm} Apple has a used piece of fruit as a corporate logo. IBM has its initials, subdivided by horizontal lines. And Commodore has the "chickenhead." But what of the Amigan? Is there no appropriate logo for this intrepid computerist? Judging by the response to last month's Film at Eleven, I'm sorely tempted to propose the ostrich. But that would be terribly unfair. Yes, there is a small (but vocal) group of Amiga fanatics who would have the world believe that Commodore is about to unveil a machine that will rival a Cray 2, that a harried crew of 5 full-time and 1 part-time programmers will somehow not only maintain the current Amiga software but also find the time to port it to a new RISC chip, all while simultaneously creating the Ultimate Games Machine, and anyone who says otherwise is a heretic or traitor. But the vast majority of Amiga owners are sane, sensible folks. And there are some heroes. Take Marc Rifkin and Mike Levin. You may know them as the people who have organized and spearheaded the Commodore Stockholder's Movement. While there have been well-intentioned (and somewhat naive) attempts in the past to exert some influence on Commodore through the stockholders, Marc and Mike have been more persistent, have put more research and thought into the project, and have actually met with a measure of success. (See our report on the Annual Meeting, later in this issue.) Take Andy Finkel. He's been a familiar online presence for as long as there has been an Amiga. He was one of the few West Chester folks to be adopted by the original Amiga gang in Los Gatos as one of their own. And as long as there have been Amiga questions, Andy has been right there, pulling amazingly detailed explanations of murky AmigaDOS esoterica out of thin air. What about those companies who have stuck with the Amiga for the long haul? Soft Logik, whose PageStream product has evolved from a rather quirky start, continues to strive toward the creation of the best desktop publishing system, not just on the Amiga, but anywhere. How about names from the past, people like Miner and Mical, Luck and Sassenrath, folks who demonstrated to everyone (but Apple, it seems) that multitasking was not only nifty but necessary, and that fast, colorful graphics really were better than green screens or 9-inch monochrome. And that multimedia was not only fun, but useful. And let's not forget all those folks who woke up last week, and - despite the release of the PowerMacs - discovered that their Amigas were still working, were still fun to use. And were paid for. Some of those folks are right in our own backyard. Dennis Schaeffer works for NBC, and was just a little irked when NBC sponsored a Mac-only contest for the short "peacock animation" that opens up the prime-time segment. So Dennis did something about it. He dragged out Imagine, and put together a 4-second spot that starts off with a semi- circle of lightbulbs (read the inscription VERY carefully, if you can!) as a ghostly hand heads for the wall switch. One flick, and the familiar NBC peacock comes into view. Dennis must have done something right, because NBC not only aired that spot, but they put it into the regular rotation. And the *StarShip*'s own Eric Geisecke, also known as Sidewinder, just finished pressing an audio CD - @{"Future Shock 2." link shock} What's special about that? Well, it's 100% Amiga-produced, all 15 tracks, even down to the cover graphics, by Zak Jarvis. You can order this "Techno/Rave/Ambient- Tribal/Syntho Pop/Jazz" CD (autographed, even!) directly from Eric. Meanwhile, the folks with their heads in the sand have been busy shooting the messenger, and perpetuating numbers (like 450,000 CD32s sold) that are pure fantasy. But none of this helps the Amiga's cause. It only serves to build up hopes that are sure to be dashed. All of this comes at a time when the news from Commodore is decidedly mixed, and the future is still precarious. A recent announcement heralded the return to production of the A1200 and the 1084 and 1942 monitors. The fine print of the announcement indicated that production was being bankrolled by one of Commodore's distributors, Microsphere, Inc. While Commodore's cash position isn't heartening, anything that gets the A1200 into production is good news. In other news, word comes that the A4000T will finally be released. Alas, this "release" will consist of around 35 machines, all hand built. A fair number are said to be headed for Newtek as testbeds for an ongoing project. Any real production run will have to await funding, although it's always possible that NewTek will bankroll it. CD32 news has been better this last month, with mentions of it in the press becoming more numerous and more favorable. With the recent release of CD32 into the U.S. market, the possibility remains that Commodore will be able to generate some momentum. But even an avalanche of sales - a million or so - will do little to help the Amiga's outlook until and unless Commodore revamps its global corporate structure and gets new leadership. (Late note: Commodore's dismal performance in the last 3 months of 1993 are reflected in the recently released quarterly report, which shows the lowest sales - $70 million - in memory for that quarter.) As the list of former Amiga engineers grows larger (there are currently more Commodore executives than software engineers), one thing is clear: we cannot look to Commodore for solutions. As they sort out their priorities and corporate structure, the fate of the Amiga rests largely in our hands. So remember the few, the proud, the Amiga Heroes. And give them your support. @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" Next Article " link letters} @endnode @node letters Letters... We Get Letters.... Here's a sampling of the mail we found waiting after last month's ViewPort. Much of it comes from a thread on Internet, in comp.sys.amiga.advocacy, entitled "LIES IN FEB94 VIEWPORT ONLINE MAG." The text has been edited for space, spelling, and grammar, but is otherwise intact. Portions following deleted material are preceded by ellipses (...). Dear Editor: Hmmm, where exactly did you get your info from? Apple Corp.? I found your article very sinister and unfair. The people who trust you as an "insider" may actually believe you. Especially those people who don't have ready access to other sources of reliable information. Hope your conciousness (sic) is clear...then again you may actually feel proud of yourself. - Victor Major Dear Mr. Major: I'm sorry you feel that way. No, it's never a pleasure to deliver bad news about my favorite computer. Yes, my conscience is clear. - JMM Dear Editor: You have lost your mind, I'm sorry to say. All of your figures of Commodore's sales of the Amiga 1200 and CD32 are totally inaccurate. Commodore has not sold 55,000 CD32s... They have sold 400,000 CD32s. And it is the #1 game machine in Europe, outselling Mega CD by Sega by 4:1. Please get your facts right, or don't say anything at all. Also, upon contacting Digital Creations, they HAVE NOT stopped Amiga support, and have no intentions of doing so. There are many other falsities in your editorial. Face it: You lied to the Amiga community. And I for one, will do everything I can to try to correct the misinformation that you have touted as truth to the Amiga community. - Thomas R. Sawyer Dear Mr. Sawyer: I never said that Digital Creations was dropping Amiga support. The phrase I used was "no new Amiga development." It might have better been phrased "no new Amiga titles." Digital Creations has confirmed that products that have already been announced, like Brilliance 2.0 and the Video Slot Box, will be released. They will also be showing the V-Machine, a Toaster-like product originally slated for the Amiga, at NAB. The V-Machine currently runs under Windows in a 486-powered computer; draw your own conclusions. As for the volume of CD32 sales, Commodore finally admitted that sales had not been good, blaming it on the "poor environment for games machines" in Europe. One would have a hard time figuring how they managed to sell 400,000 CD32s and only pull in a total of $70 million for the quarter. If nothing else, we hope that you'll put a little more stock in what ViewPort says than in the free-wheeling rumors that are found on the nets. - JMM In two postings on Internet, Jim Norris writes: The Feb issue of GEnie's ViewPort magazine has an editorial- 'Film at Eleven' written by Jim Meyer (coauthor of the Brilliance manual) that contains enough in the way of factual inaccuracy to call into queston the integrity of its author. ... As far as AAA is concerned, I'm sure that the majority of you well know that AAA is -already- in silicon and in its final stages of completion. This information is common knowledge to those who read Usenet or keep up on current Amiga-related events. Where Mr. Meyers (sic) received this information is unknown, however, confirmation of AAA's development and implementation come from C= itself. ... You seem to equate working for the Starship as some form of Amiga advocacy. Did it ever occur to you that it is simply a job for many of them? The Starship is one of GEnie's biggest roundtables; the folks who moderate it do it for the money, not necessarily out of some deep love for the Amiga. ... A lot of bad blood apparently exists between Mr. Meyer and many in the Amiga community. He has had, by his own admission, bad dealings with .info, AMnews, Portal and now apparently with Digital Creations to the tune of several thousand $$$ owed him. This might be speculation, but do you think it is possible that he might have an axe to grind? Dear Mr. Norris: About AAA: It's dead. Period. Still. It was cancelled on January 17. Furthermore, the version that did exist suffered from fundamental design problems. There is a big difference between "exists in silicon" and "works in silicon." While the AAA design embodies a number of worthwhile concepts, the amount of money required for a single silicon pass (two more would probably have been required) could be used for other purposes. Like doubling the number of Amiga software engineers. As for your statement that the members of the *StarShip* staff do what they do for money, rather than any love for the Amiga, I respectfully submit that you are clueless. While it goes against policy to discuss compensation, my understanding is that most - if not all - commercial online services merely waive connect charges for the assistants. In the case of GEnie, connect charges are $3.00 per hour. Trust me; we do it because we love the Amiga and care about the Amiga community. Finally, your assertion that I have some axe to grind because of "bad dealings with .info, AMnews, Portal and now apparently with Digital Creations..." is pure bunk. Digital Creations pays promptly and well, and doesn't owe me a dime. The last time I checked, I was still friends with Mark Brown, my Editor (and a real class act) at .info. As for AMnews, it went under owing over $100,000 to various members of the Amiga community and small business-people, most of whom could ill afford the debt. I'm not the only one who has less-than-fond memories of Mark Jacobson, the publisher of AMnews. Portal?? I've never been a member. What disturbs me most of all is the ease with which you were able to make your accusations. One would hope that the participants in a forum that has a potential audience of millions would exercise some responsibility. Alas, one doesn't have to spend much time on Internet to see that this is not so. - JMM And finally, there were these two letters: Dear Editor: Where the h is my March ViewPort????????? - Otis Ivie Dear Otis: You're reading it! You're reading it! - JMM Jim - Once again, you wrote a great editorial. Well conceived and executed. - Rhett Anderson Dear Rhett: Thanks. I needed that! - JMM Got something you want to get off your chest? Send it to us at: GEnie: JIM.MEYER Internet: jim.meyer@genie.geis.com @{" Previous Article " link film} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" Next Article " link phelp} @endnode @node phelp AmigaGuide Tips: Personal Help System by @{"Robin Evans" link robin} Tired of searching though a web of directories to find the guide document that explains a program? Here's a solution: Create an AmigaGuide control panel for all the help files that you've collected. It's easy to do. Here's an example: \@database help.guide \@node MAIN " Personal help system" Help files: \@{" AmigaGuide " link AmigaGuide.guide/MAIN} \@{" ARexx " link ARexxGuide.guide/MAIN} \@{" RexxReqTools " link rexxreqtools.guide/MAIN} \@{" Edge " link edge.guide/MAIN} \@{" Magazines " link MAGS} \@{" File directory " rx "help.rexx"} \@endnode \@node MAGS "Magazines" \@{" Viewport 3/93 " link .../MAIN} \@{" Viewport 1/93 " link .../MAIN} \@endnode You should, of course, substitute the names of the files that you have and use on your own system. The `file directory' entry would run a rexx script called `help.rexx'. That file could be used to show other choices. You can call your controller anything you wish, but calling it `help.guide' has some unique advantages: Unless a special document is defined in the guide, your new control panel will become the default help file for other guides. You'll be able to see it again by pressing the `Help' button on the viewer or by pressing the key when the viewer is active. If you use a different name, you can still get back to your control panel by adding a new line to each of the files listed there. Add this right after the line that starts '\@node MAIN': \@toc .guide/MAIN Substitute for the actual name of your new file. That will make the contents keys of the guides referenced in the help document call up the control panel. The files that are included in your control panel don't have to be stored in the same directory. The directory where they're located need not be included in the link command as long as it is included in the environmental variable 'AmigaGuide/path'. Each of the directories listed (and separated by a space) in that variable will be searched by AmigaGuide when it encounters the name of a file that can't be found in the current directory. @{" Previous Article " link letters} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" Next Article " link toon} @endnode @Node toon Click Here For 16-Color Cartoon ------> @{" Prince's Pen " system "$viewer blues"} @{" About Nancy Prince " link nancyp } @{" Previous Article " link phelp} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" Next Article " link phile} @EndNode @node phile The Amigaphile by @{"Nick Cook" link nickc} "The court calls Loriann Babbit." The courtroom became still. Loriann strode to the witness stand. She scanned the room. Her dark brown eyes flashed as her glance fell on the man seated at the defense table. He shifted uncomfortably in his slightly too-small suit and fingered some papers in front of him. "DoyousweartotellthetruthandnothingbutthetruthsohelpyouGod?" chanted the bailiff. "I do." "Be seated." Loriann sat. She tossed her head back like a filly entering the winner's circle. The attorney sauntered over. "Ms. Babbit, can you tell the court when the abuse began?" "Yes. It started the day my husband," Loriann put quotes around 'husband', "came home from Wal-Mart with that, that other machine." "The DOS one?" "Yes, that one. Nothing I did was right. I showed him ICONS (#22507, NURICONS.LHA, 11392 bytes). It's a collection of unusual, multicolor icons like Popeye (selects into Olive Oyl), a howling coyote, a wormy apple, and cow. The artwork is excellent, and looks wonderful on 24 bit boards. Then there's Busy Banana (#22445, BUSYBANANAPOINTERS.LHA, 10112 bytes), a group of animated busy pointers. The archive includes a peeling banana and twirling dancer. I thought he would think them cute." "What was your husband's reaction?" "He snorted. 'Not professional! he says. 'Professional is a gray static hourglass. Professional is gray icons on a VGA screen.'" Loriann reached for the box of tissues. "I tried OPTICON (#22378 OPTICON.LHA, 53504 bytes)? It's a collection of utilities like Icon2C. It reads in given '.info' file and writes out C code. This allows you to modify any icon image to your own needs. OptIcon reads in given ".info" files and scans the icon image in order to optimize the icon Image structure and save space. It didn't help. John said rude things about my computer." She pulled out more tissues. "I showed him FasterBlit (#22384, FBL6.2.LHA, 7424 bytes), Arthur Hagen's program that snaps up the Amiga's blitter (used for video display). Even WordPerfect scrolls faster. While it multi-tasks! SuperDark screen blankers zip along. Just watch where you put the program. When I placed in my User-Startup sequence, the whole computer slowed to a crawl. An iconX routine in WBStartup caused the machine to be non-responsive to the mouse. So now I just type the command in by CLI." The attorney leaned against the witness stand. "And your husband was not impressed?" "No! So I demoed Fitter (#22502, FITTER_V1.01.LHA, 55296 bytes). Fitter is Joe Thomas' utility designed to make transfering of files from a groaning full hard drive to floppy disks easier. Fitter uses an algorithm to determine a way to put these files on disks so that floppy diskspace is optimized. Most features are accessed by mouse clicks." "And your husband?" "He looked at me as though I had gone senile. 'If you're hard drive is full, buy a bigger hard drive! Floppies are old fashioned!'" "I felt more and more degraded. I went on. How about Life and Death Clock? (#22437, LIFEDEATHCLK.LHA, 80640 bytes). This is Mike Haas' comparisons between causes of death versus civilian use of firearms for self-defense. You may not agree with the politics, but the Clock is very well designed and created." Loriann shot a glance at Mr. Babbit, then continued. "Games, how about games? GEnie is fortunate to have some clever and creative members. Bob Akerberg brings us Sydney (322490, SYDNEY.LZH, 255360 bytes), an AMOS arcade game where you play Sydney, a snake fighting to free your part of the desert from invaders. It's a little different, since initially, all you can do is crawl forward, and burrow into the ground. But you can eat scorpion eggs and get more powerful." Loriann leaned foward. "Then there's Scorched Earth (#22513, SCORCH175.LHA, 498560 bytes), Michael Welch's near cousin to the IBM's Scorched Tanks, a warfare game where up to 4 human players or computer controlled opponents buy fancy weapons and try to blow each othe up. 'Taint as easy as it sounds. Scorched Earth features good graphics, a slick interface, and a impressive intro. $10 bucks gets you a version which saves games." "And still your husband was not satisfied?" asked the lawyer. "No, not John! He said the most vile, wicked thing he could." Loriann stopped for a second. "He leaned close to me and...and...sneered 'you don't have spreadsheets!' Then he leaned back and laughed. A horrible, mocking laugh." "Then what happened?" Loriann dabbed her eyes. "Well, after my husband went to sleep, I went into the kitchen..." "Yes?" "I picked up a new knife, then I...I," Loriann swallowed hard. "Cut off my husband's p...p..." "I know this is tough for you, Loriann. Your husband was asleep, you took a knife and ---" Loriann took a deep breath. She paused, like a diver perched at the edge of the highest board at the pool. Then she jumped. "I took the knife and cut off my husband's parallel cable!" @{" Previous Article " link toon} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" Next Article " link share} @endnode @node share CSM Update: Commodore's Annual Meeting March 2, 1994 Nassau, Bahamas - "We are not a rubber stamp board of directors," replied Commodore Chairman Irving Gould to an accusation by computer dealer, Jeffrey Moscow. By this time during the 1993/94 Annual Shareholder Meeting of Commodore International, board members had been repeatedly questioned on counts of inept management - for having led this NYSE issue to a net loss of $356 million for FY93. Only two years earlier, Commodore enjoyed annual net sales in excess of one billion dollars. Shareholder equity is now about (negative) -10.78 per share and Commodore owes over $50 million to banks in 18 different countries. The banks are putting the pressure on Commodore to repay, and Commodore is trying to avoid legal actions. The meeting, which was four months overdue, was held this March 2nd in its usual location, the exclusive Lyford Cay Club in Nassau, Bahamas where Commodore holds its incorporation. There was no repeat of the scene of November, 1991 when a dissenting shareholder was physically ejected from the meeting, but passions were nonetheless running high. At one point, Moscow asked General Alexander Haig - one of Commodore's five directors - to encourage Irving Gould to step down in the same way he had admirably done so with a certain US President. Someone has to take control, insisted Moscow; nothing is going to improve under current management, he went on. For about a half-hour, Gould, Moscow and shareholders parried comments on Commodore's ailing situation and prospects for recovery. Commodore is an international company which manufacturers the Amiga - the most popular model home computer in Europe and the host to many professional video products in the United States - for instance, the Video Toaster which has revolutionized the video industry. Commodore also recently introduced CD32, a 32-bit game machine which is becoming a hit in Europe. At the annual meeting, shareholders contended that perpetual mistakes, including inadequate supply of products during consecutive Christmas seasons, was responsible for the losses, while Commodore blamed the effects of soft economic conditions in Europe, their largest market. But whatever the cause of Commodore's problems, everyone at the meeting agreed that something needed to be done - perhaps new management or a grass-roots marketing campaign tapping into the enthusiasm of the Commodore base of customers as suggested by Michael Levin. Levin described himself as a spokesperson for these customers - many of whom have and are still actively becoming shareholders. The only thing being asked of Commodore was leadership. The lack of confidence in management was demonstrated by the shareholder defeat of a proposed amendment to Commodore's articles of association. This amendment would eliminate shareholder checks concerning large decisions such as mergers and sales of company assets. Another point raised at the meeting was Commodore's urgent need to resolve its debt and recover credibility so that it can become a player in the emerging interactive television market. In this market, programs and software will be downloaded by service providers into cable-box-like devices sitting on top of peoples' televisions. Commodore, the shareholders insist, must become the supplier of the boxes or the core technology going into compatible boxes supplied by other manufacturers. "On the surface, every one of our objectives was met for the meeting," stated Marc Rifkin, a shareholder attending the meeting with proof of the thousands of customers and shareholders backing his cause. "We don't think our warning fell on deaf ears; we now have an open line to Irving Gould, and he seems willing to listen. That is the critical first step." What happens next? Rifkin replies that either Commodore starts taking the steps necessary to survive, or they don't. The first sign will be whether Commodore brings in someone who can deal with the daunting financial and marketing challenges, as well as working with the Board of Directors. Previous attempts to find such a turn-around artist have ended in debacles, most notably, an ex-Pepsico executive, who cost Commodore a $10 million lawsuit, and current president, Medhi Ali who led Commodore during its recent decline. Commodore Shareholder Movement Announcement, March 2, 1994 We were at the shareholder meeting, and we were not alone. Various Amiga dealers whose livelihood depends on Commodore's success were also in attendance. Some spoke with along with us while others silently observed the proceedings. Our message was clear; things are not rosy. Consistent and basic mistakes led Commodore to where it is, and as anyone can plainly see, continuing these mistakes will lead to ruin. They must not miss their one chance to make a comeback through the interactive television market. This relies on partnerships which Commodore has seemed unable to form. The situation is urgent. Commodore must leverage what resources it still has, including the activities of those customers who still carry the torch. Irving Gould met with us after the meeting to discuss what might be done. It seems that Gould is willing to listen and is concerned about the message which is reaching the users. If there is a solution to Commodore's situation, it must start from the top. We hope to offer Gould a solution which he will find favorable and will best benefit the interests of the Commodore shareholders and customers whom we represent. Keep your letters coming. Keep them concise and focus on what things you might do to help. Most importantly, spread the word. The assumption is that Commodore and its computers represent a tradition worth keeping. We can not do this alone. Others must become active leaders in the cause. Editor's Addendum I talked at length with Mike Levin, of the Commodore Shareholder Movement, after the Annual Meeting, since I wanted to hear first-hand how he felt the "encounter with Gould" had gone. First, the bad news. Mike said that there had been "no fundamental change" in Commodore's situation. Cash is still scarce, and there are a number of banks banging at Commodore's door. However, Levin felt that the opening of a "channel of communication" with Gould was the most important accomplishment. The next order of business was for CSM to recommend "new leadership" for Commodore, in a meeting with Gould. This has already happened. The candidate that CSM has proposed is a computer industry veteran (his son was an Amiga developer) who has experience in turning ailing companies around. As for the future, Levin pointed out that it isn't nearly as bad as the financial reports indicate. While it is true that Commodore's financials are dismal, the likelihood is that the people to whom Commodore owes money will step in and take control of the company, rather than liquidate it. As long as Commodore has sales, they're worth more alive than dead. So the current (and prospective) Amiga owner need not necessarily fear that his or her computer is about to be an orphan. However, the Amiga community does have a say in the future of the Amiga, and can take an active role. Levin urged all Amiga owners to send letters to the CSM, to "spread the word" of the Amiga's capabilities to potential Amiga customers, and to "help Commodore through this current situation." Levin repeatedly stressed the possibilities of licensing the Amiga's chipset and operating system to third parties, particularly for use in the forthcoming "interactive television" technology. And, according to Levin, Commodore has been approached by more than one company looking to use Amiga technology in their products. You can reach the Commodore Shareholder Movement at: Commodore Shareholder Movement P.O. Box 8296 Philadelphia, PA 19101 @{" Previous Article " link toon} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" Next Article " link megad} @endnode @node megad MegaD 3.2 by @{"Tom Cannon" link tomc} MegaD is a disk utility that allows the user to manipulate files and directories using windows, gadgets and menus. The graphic interface is where MegaD excels, since its configuration is in the hands of the user. MegaD is a shareware product. No system requirements are stated, but MegaD has more features under Workbench 2.0 or higher. No installation is necessary, simply unarchive it. AmigaGuide is used for the help system and most of the documentation. When you press the HELP key, the MegaD.guide file is accessed whenever you select a gadget or menu item. It is an online help system that commercial software products should implement. AmigaGuide files are provided for the main program, the AREXX interface and the print spooler. The print spooler is not required and is a separate download. The tutorial, which should be printed to preserve its formatting, is quite thorough, including an index. Once you've read it you will be quite comfortable with MegaD. The overall detail and quality of the @{"documentation" system "$viewer pic1"} is excellent. MegaD's interface uses gadgets, menus and windows to perform its functions. The program can be run on the Workbench screen, in which case the control window becomes an app window. When iconified, the program icon acts as an app icon. This feature is quite powerful when used with the Autoboot feature of the program. Autoboots create program controls which allow data files to be run by double-clicking them in a directory window. Some unique aspects of this feature are: 1. MegaD has an automatic feature for learning program controls. 2. You can have it ask you which program of several to use for a particular file type. 3. You can use your MegaD app icon on the Workbench screen to run all of your data files. It is like having a Multiview for all your applications! The program also supports custom screens and virtual screens and has the ability to place and size windows so that they will not overlap your monitor view on virtual screens. However, support for varied system fonts sizes is not yet completely bug-free and can result in some odd displays. The program's control window can be used to perform all standard utility needs. The gadgets are arranged to mimic the numeric keypad and are hot-keyed to their location. Of course, this is completely configurable including fonts and @{"color." system "$viewer pic2"} The directory windows are unlimited in the registered version and allow you to select multiple source and destination directories. The directories and volumes are buffered into memory but may be purged with a mouse click. When you outgrow the standard control window, user gadgets are unlimited and completely configurable. The gadget layouts (i.e. 1 x 7, 2 x 4, etc.) are definable and their location on screen is remembered. Gadgets can be designed to pop up with a hotkey and close after use. They can even be configured to open other gadgets. They accept any of the 123 AREXX commands. Menus can also be configured with the end result that you can lay out the @{"screen" system "$viewer pic3"} in any way that suits your needs. Major advantages Unsurpassed level of configuration Unlimited directory windows Excellent documentation Try before you buy Major disadvantage Different from the 'typical' and therefore a longer learning curve MegaD3.2 is available for a $30 registration fee from John L. Jones PO Box 292 Midvale UTAH 84047 GEnie files #20198 MDSpool.lha /print spooler with docs requires WB2.0+/ #20938 MegaD31_b.lha /documentation/ #22272 MegaD32.lha /latest version/ @{" Previous Article " link toon} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" Next Article " link fdpro2} @endnode @node fdpro2  ______ Fighter Duel Pro 2 (__  __) by @{"Steve Plegge" link stevep}  / /     / /  his is not your father's air combat simulator. (_/   In fact, it's not an air combat simulator at all. Make that: Not *just* an air combat simulator. What it is, is an air combat simulator with realistic flight simulator characteristics. ("It's a floor wax!" "No, it's a dessert topping!") What's the difference? The flight simulator part of most air combat simulators is almost an afterthought, added on to give the appearance of a realistic simulation. Call it point-and-shoot air combat. With FDP2, first you learn to fly the aircraft, then you worry about dealing with the bad guys. Speaking of bad guys, you've got your choice of them: Up to 4 virtual foes (at 8 different ability levels, from novice to ace), or you can dial up a friend (?) and go at it with them. You and your friend can also fly together as @{"wingmen," system "$viewer mustang"} playing tag-team duel with the computer-generated foes. (There's a chat mode you can use to talk to your enemy / partner while in flight.) To get your flying and gunnery skills up to speed, a practice range with a towed target is available. FDP2 models 25 different WWII @{"aircraft," system "$viewer fd2"} plus gunners on a couple of them, and a ground gunner firing AAA (anti-aircraft artillery). The aircraft are: American - F4U-1D, F2G, F6F-3, P-38L, P-47D, P-51D, P-61C; British - Hurricane II, Spitfire Mk I/IX/XIV, Seafire II, Tempest V; Russian - Yak-3; Japanese - A6M5a (Zero), KI84, N1K2, J7W; and German - Bf-109E, Bf-109G6, FW-190A8, TA-152H, ME-262, ME-163B, ME-110G. Each aircraft has its own flying characteristics, including turn and climb rates, maximum speed, weapons load, rate of fire, firepower, and damage vulnerability. Along with your choice of aircraft, both yours and your foe's, you can choose a land or sea environment, and any of several different locations. You can even set up a second Amiga to be used as a "rear-view" machine. You also get your choice of real or Star Wars gunnery, and unlimited ammo if you want it. Serious aerodynamics are used here. Perhaps the best example is that of high-speed (or accelerated) stalls. Most folks think that stalls are a low-speed phenomenon, which happen when a wing is moving too slow to keep flying. Airflow separates from the top of the wing, lift goes to zilch, and the nose drops. If this happens to one wing before the other, what you've got here is the beginning of a spin. (As the old saying goes, "To go up, pull back on the stick. To go down, pull back some more.") Stalls can also happen at high speed. No matter how fast you're going, if you put too much angle of attack on the wing, it will stall. FDP2 accurately models this. Dammit. ;-) If you try to go *too* fast, you enter the wonderful world of high-speed flutter. Be sure your life insurance is paid up! Other nice touches abound. If you're flying a twin-engine aircraft (P-38, P-61, ME-110) and you get one engine shot out, you can tell which engine is still running... as long as you have stereo speakers. (Don't ask me how I know this. ) Another touch of realism goes by the name of torque roll. This is when the aircraft rolls in the opposite direction of the propeller spin, and can only be avoided by carefully setting the trim - but it only corrects the roll at one combination of power, altitude, and airspeed. This is one reason I prefer the P-38; the engines are counter-rotating, so the torque effects cancel out. Yet another bit of realism is the gunnery system. You can't just put your foe in the gunsight and pull the trigger; you have to lead him. This is where the LCOS (Lead-Computing Optical Sight) comes in handy. If you get only a few hits on him (hits on you / hits on him are displayed on each side of the gunsight), he may start to smoke. Tactical note: When dueling mutiple foes, I like to leave some of them wounded. They're less dangerous that way, and they're easier to find if they're leaving a smoke trail. You can buy the farm in several interesting ways. Flying into the terrain (ground, arch, columns, whatever) will do it. You can also (obviously) get shot down. Or, if you really want to be creative, you can hose down an opponent too close to you and have him blow up in your face. And even if you miss him, you can always engage in the classic mid-air collision thump / spin / splat maneuver. Once you do stick it in the dirt, you can replay up to 60 seconds, depending on how much RAM lives in your Amiga. Interesting and informative, but not very good for morale. ;-/ FDP2 supports digital (normal) and analog joysticks, with a top-hat (a/k/a Madonna) switch used for view selection. There are keyboard controls for wheel brakes (left & right), catapult launch, flaps, landing gear, hook, rudder, throttle, and view selection. The joystick is used for the normal elevator, ailerons, and gun firing. FDP2 is very addictive, so here's a Public Service Announcement: You know you've been playing FDP2 too long when you find yourself stuck in morning commute traffic, wondering about the roll rate of that Mustang in front of you. There is no known cure... MSRP: $59.95 Upgrade from Fighter Duel - Corsair vs Zero, Fighter Duel Pro, FDPro Flight Recorder: $30.00. Jaeger Software 7800 White Cliff Terrace Rockville, MD 20855 (301) 948-6862 In the box: 4 880K 3.5" disks, registration card, 60-page manual Requirements: Kickstart 1.2+, 2M Chip or Fast RAM, analog or digital joystick. AGA-aware. Not copy-protected. Jaeger Software has a support category (#24) on the *StarShip* bulletin board. Jaeger's own Matt Shaw (M.SHAW15) keeps the troops happy there, and Drew Dorman (GHOST.RIDER) serves as Tournament Coordinator. Also, you can find lots of FDP2-related files in our software library, including a playable demo, cheatsheets, aircraft info, and an updated configuration program (with a low memory version). @{" Previous Article " link megad} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" Next Article " link imdesign} @endnode @node imdesign Instructional Media Design by Nick Cook The Amiga has won deserved fame as a video tool. However, our favorite computer is well suited to create graphics for other heavily used, but decidedly lower tech, presentation aides: @{"transparencies" link trans} and slides. This article will discuss some basic design rules for creating those visuals. The first step is to decide if you want transparencies or slides. Each one has @{"advantages and disadvantages." link advant} Once you've picked your media, the fun begins! 1. Give Us a KISS The Prime Directive of any type of instructional media design is KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Audiences are fickle. They probably won't "appreciate" all the work put into that highly complex effect, or worse yet, even notice it all. Sometimes external forces conspire to cancel your masterpieces. Recently, I spoke at a national convention. I created my slides employing the Gradient, Background effect in Art Department Pro. I carefully picked the palette colors and arranged the "start" positions. The results were gorgeous: gold lettering over a subtle gradient of pink and blue. Perhaps a little too smugly, I showed off my results to my coworker fighting with Presentation Perfect. Alas, the ambient light in the hotel ballroom (to allow the audience to take notes) completely washed out my beautiful backgrounds. Keeping it simple may have saved some disappointment. "The simplest way is the best way" is also good design mantra. Following the KISS prescription prevents infection by the dreaded: 2. "Look, Ma! No hands!" Syndrome The Amiga is capable of remarkable graphics, no doubt about it. Sometimes like kids with a new toy, we just gotta play with it. Just don't show your playing to us all at once! Remember when you first bought Print Shop? Posters with borders, 3D ornate fonts, all plastered on top of tiled graphics? A colleague at work proudly showed me his first PC- created transparency: graphics (that had little to do with the topic), print and blocks of color covered virtually every square. The Helm manual offers good advice: using too many styles can look sloppy. Remember: Just because you can do something, you don't have to. A good rule of thumb: use one dominant design element per visual. It could be a headline or graphic, but this element should grab the viewer's attention. Be consistent with your designs as well. Stick with the same type style, layout, and colors throughout. This unifies your presentation. Remember to select colors, images and fonts to support your presentation, not supplant it. You've probably seen a wonderful, witty commercial, and tell a friend about it the next day. But what's the product name's again? If your audience pays more attention to your messenger instead of your message, you've failed. 3. You Cannot NOT Communicate Every element in your presentation communicates. Even seemingly mundane items such as palettes and backgrounds must be chosen with their communicative intent in mind. If you don't, you may send mixed messages, or even create unintentional humor. For example, in one of my instructional media design classes, a fellow student created a presentation on the Asian cooking technique Korean barbecue. The student tracked his production with country and western music, apparently because of the "barbecue" name. The juxtaposition of these rather distinct styles had the audience, to use BBS parlance, ROTFL. Unfortunately, that was not the effect the producer had in mind! Some backgrounds (like the Weaves and Bricks in ProFills programs) communicate a more casual "feel" than others (e.g., Textures). Likewise with colors: a Magenta palette "says" something completely different from a gray one. The easiest way to check out the effect of color and background is to experiment. For example, for a recent speech I presented several statistics. I cycled through most of ProFills until I settled on one of the Stucco textures; it gave a more "professional" feel to the slides. Next I tried out the various palettes, and choose the grays and tans for the same reason. 4. Watch the Clutter! According to people who study these things, it is best to present no more than three new concepts per screen. Moore & Moore provide some @{"suggestions." link moore} Beyond these limits, your audience may become overwhelmed. Not only that, but the visual clutter up and becomes difficult to read. I attended a crowded seminar by a person who's "big" in my field. To her audience of at least 300, she put up a transparency which contained a full page of columns and numbers. That was bad enough, but she proceeded to say things like "as you can see with subject 25, his responses across the categories were..." You could only see if you had binoculars! For one presentation, I used a batch of statistics to argue my point. These were displayed as a 3D bar graph in the source material. A 3D bar graph and the Amiga! A match made in heaven, no? Well, no. I recreated the graph. From close up, the graph was readable, if a little crowded. I got up, and stood about six feet back from the screen (by the way, this is the simplest method to check out your graphic before production). From that distance, it was too small. Translating the stats into a pie chart didn't help. I decided to alter my presentation somewhat. I listed the statistics in order, from largest to smallest, on three slides. The second statistic ("Other") was critical to my argument, so I rendered that one in red to contrast against the others, which were in off-white. During the presentation, I reversed the order of these slides, and did a "count down" a la Family Feud. 5. Three Coins in a FONTain There are three factors you'll need to consider when picking a font, including size, color, and format. Why format? Output methods are different for transparencies and slides, and the font's format will influence the visual's quality. Most transparencies are produced by printing: either directly on the acetate by a dot matrix or laser printer, or by printing on plain white stock which is run through a photocopier loaded with transparency film. In either case, you'll want to output the visual at the highest quality level possible with your printer to avoid the jaggies. PostScript or Compugraphic fonts are your best bet. You can print a transparency in portrait or landscape orientation. I have found, however, that the landscape orientation is slightly harder to fit on the overhead projector's "stage," and there's a greater possibility for chopping off material at either end. If you're creating slides from bitmap images (e.g., a slide created in Deluxe Paint), it is best to stick to bitmap fonts. A film recorder puts an image on a 35mm slide using a grid of 4096x2732 pixels. This is quite a bit higher than an Amiga high resolution screen of 640x400 pixels! Consequently, the finished slide will be much sharper than the image you see on the monitor. I received an unpleasant surprise when my first set of slides came from the service bureau: the fonts, which I converted from Compugraphic to bitmap, looked great on a high res screen. However, some jaggies when the graphic was recorded in the film recorder's high resolution. After the fact, I discovered that Gold Disk's Outline Fonts manual contains a table of suggested vertical and horizontal dots per inch (dpi) when using their conversion program. For high res screens, the manual suggests 72 dpi for both horizontal and vertical. I didn't repeat my mistake the next time, though. I dug through my 600 Amiga Fonts disks and discovered the "Beverly Hills" font in a size appropriate for my visuals. This time, no jaggies reared their ugly heads on the processed slides. Select fonts for their clarity. Avoid the fancy ones, no matter how pretty. I've used "Avant Garde" for one presentation, because it had a "clean" look, and "Beverly Hills," an elegant font, for another one. Also beware of "skinny" fonts. They are harder to read on the screen. Last week, I made some transparencies about an hour before a presentation. I was in a hurry, so I selected a font, slapped together the layout in PageStream, then printed them by way of the laser printer. During the talk, I noticed that I had picked a "skinny" font; the words almost disappeared in the glare of the overhead projector's light. The font looked fine in the sample book, but because I was in a hurry, I didn't perform the "step back from the monitor test." Also consider the interaction between font and background color. Dark type on light backgrounds is best for transparencies, whereas light type on dark backgrounds works for slides. Avoid red type on a blue background or vice versa, as it is very hard to read. If the graphic is seen by a large audience, font size is important. Twelve points is the absolute minimum, with 24 point and up better. "Remember, you are 'writing' on a 35mm slide, not an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper!" advises Kip Hammond of Culver City, California's Hammond Photographic Services. 6. Heat and Enjoy! Follow these basic design rules, and you can create some professional graphics for your speech. Have fun! @{" Previous Article " link fdpro2} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" Next Article " link settlers} @endnode @node trans Transparencies are 8 by 10 sheets of acetate or plastic used with overhead projectors. Also known as "overheads". @endnode @node advant Transparencies: - inexpensive and easy to produce - work best for small audiences numbering under 50. - allow the presenter to "disclose" the contents by covering the transparency with a sheet of paper and sliding it down. Slides: - not cheap! You may get a good rate by saving your graphic as a GIF or TIFF in a PC resolution and using a PC service bureau. - require at least a 24 hour turnaround - provide a formal, professional "feel" to a presentation - work best in audiences with over 50 members @endnode @node moore Some Suggestions... (i) Limit your text to no more than seven lines (ii) Do not use more than 28 characters per line. (iii) Don't capitalize the text. (iv.) Don't justify the text. (v.) Don't hyphenate the text. @endnode @node settlers The Settlers - Economics 201 (How To Win the Game)     ____ by @{"Eric Penn" link ericp}    (_  _)     / / have found that the best way to view the structure of the game is    / / from a `bottom-up' perspective. Think about the END PRODUCTS you  _/ /  want, and then work backwards from there. So, having said that.... (____)  The key to the game is amassing land and military strength. In order to "win" you must control over 75% of the map and have over 75% of the Knights. Knights need three things, from two different systems: I. Sword and shield (without these they cannot be Knights). Both come from the Armourer who needs: A. Coal, which comes from a Coal-mine, and B. Steel, which is created in a Steel-forge which needs: 1. Iron-ore, from an Iron-mine, and 2. Coal, from a Coal-mine. And II. Gold (which raises their morale and makes them fight -significantly- better). Gold is produced by a Gold-forge, which requires: A. Gold-ore, from a Gold-mine, and B. Coal, from a Coal-mine. So, essentially, each Knight is equivalent to the following raw material: 5 Coal 2 Iron-ore 1 Gold-ore However, the Miners that produce ALL of these raw materials require food in order to do their work. Food can come in one of three forms, each of which comes from a different system: I. Fish, from a fisherman. This only requires a single building, but fish only reproduce at a set rate. Too many fishermen will over-fish a single body of water, which will render it "dead", and no more fish will be caught. A lake the size of the entire screen is large enough to support two fishermen, without over-fishing. Or, II. Meat, which is the product of a Butcher. Butchers require only a single raw material (a pig) to produce Meat Pigs come from a Pig-farm, which requires Wheat from a Wheat-farm. At _minimum_ this requires three large buildings, one of which (Wheat-farm) needs to be near a large semi-level area. I have not yet determined the optimal mix for this system. Or, III. Bread, which is made by a Baker. Flour, which comes from a Windmill, is the sole input needed by the Baker. The miller requires Wheat, which comes from a Wheat-farm. At _minimum_ this requires one small building (the Windmill) and two large buildings (the Bakery and the Wheat-farm), and a nearby large semi-level area for the Farmer's wheat crops. Optimally, one Baker can work fast enough to support two millers. In order to keep both millers working continually, the dedicated output of three Wheat-farms is needed. This mix will ensure a constant and continual output of food. So far, we have discussed the needs of Knights (needed to win the game), Miners (who are needed to support the knights), and food production (required by the Miners). These three eco-systems are all that is required to win the game. However, in order to construct the buildings that are required to build the products needed, and the buildings which will house the knights themselves, one must have three things: I. Building materials. These come in two forms: A. Timber, which is produced by a Joiner (???) at a Sawmill. The Sawmill uses tree Trunks, which come from a Woodcutter. A single Sawmill can cut enough wood to support three Woodcutters. However, three Woodcutters will denude even the densest forest in a very short time frame. A Forester will plant new trees, so placing one near each woodcutter will make a self sustaining wood production unit. And, B. Stones, which can come from two sources: 1. a Stonecutter will break the large grey blocks found on the landscape into usable Stones. But when these are gone, they are gone. Or, 2. a Stone-mine will dig the Stones from the bowels of the land. Obviously, the Miner will require food. Again, when the source of mined Stones runs dry, there can be no more produced. II. Manpower. New Settlers are made... in the way that new people are made. This costs nothing except time. Settlers always start out in the Castle or in Stock houses. III. Tools. Each `job' that a new Settler can take requires one or more tools. If the requisite tool is not available, no new Settler can take that job. For example, if there is no Axe in storage, then no Woodcutter can be made. You can still build the building for one, but no Settler will go to live in it and nothing will be produced by it. Tools are created by a Toolmaker who requires: A. Timber, and B. Iron. When viewed in the `bottom-up' perspective, economic planning is much easier. Place buildings which are inter-dependant near each other, with a connecting road with no intersections. Avoid road intersections where supply routes cross. Most materials are already present in small quantities in your Castle store-rooms; use these to supply end-product workers while you plan and build the mid- and raw-material professions. Thus you can build a Butcher shop right away, Pig-farm (or two) next, and finally, several Wheat-farms. Build your eco-systems from the bottom up. I hope you found this mini-tutorial interesting and useful. I don't know how complete the demo version is, so I cannot vouch for it. The actual game comes with a 138 page BOOK that explains each ecosystem and all of the menus and options in great detail. And there a LOT of options that can be set, each of which will vary depending on play style, landscape, and enemy placement. Buy it, you fools! The Settlers is published by Blue Byte Software GmbH Aktienstrabe 62, D-45473 Mulheim Germany @{" Previous Article " link imdesign} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" Next Article " link logo} @endnode @node logo  ______ Making a LOGO Translator in HELM (__  __) by @{"Scott Nickerson" link scottn}   / /     / /  he scripting language in Helm has some interesting features that (_/  are not used very often. Two of these features are the ability to draw directly on a page, outside of an imagefield, and the ability to compile a script on the fly. In this tutorial, we will show how you can use these features to build a simple LOGO language translator that includes turtle graphics. Before beginning to construct the actual LOGO translator, you should become familiar with Helm's paint commands that are described in Chapter 37, Paint Commands, in the Helm Reference Manual. These commands are unique because they direct Helm's painting tools; they do not have a painting engine of their own. These means that you can take advantage of the various painting modes by simply setting the painttype property and then using one of the draw commands. In the LOGO application, we will use two of these commands: drawline and fillbox. Take note of the syntax and arguments of these commands... drawline , , , This command draws a line on the screen using the current pen color and the current paint type. The coordinates x-y and x1-y1 are the end points of the line. fillbox , , , This command draws a filled rectangle. One corner of the rectangle is located at x-y. Another corner of the rectangle that is diagonally opposite of the first corner is located at x1-y1. We will use this command merely to clear the drawing area. These commands will paint on the page only if there is no imagefield on the page. Make sure that there is no imagefield. This will not be a limitation in future versions of Helm. LOGO was devised as a simple language to teach children how to program. The concept of turtle graphics is an important part of LOGO. The child programmer gives commands to a turtle to go forward, turn left, and so on. The turtle draws as it moves, leaving a line in its wake. This gives the child a more concrete way of dealing with graphics, rather than having to imagine the more abstract Cartesian coordinate system. The algorithm for the turtle graphics engine is fairly straightforward. We will merely take advantage of the equations for converting polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates. Given our current position, a distance to move (dis), and an angle in which to move (ang), we can determine the location of a turtle after movement with the following equations: x = cos d * dis + x y = sin d * dis + y We must remember to keep the variables x, y, and d in global variables. Also, Helm's math functions require angles in radians so we must convert any angle given in degrees to radians using the equation: ang = ang / 180.0 * 3.1415927 We should also make sure that the angle falls within an acceptable range of angles by using an if-else construction: if ang < 0 then ang = 360.0 + ang else if ang > 360 then ang = ang - 360.0 Pulling these equations all together, we can construct a simple turtle graphics function. moveturtle dis begin global x, y, ang if ang < 0 then put 360.0 + ang into ang // Make sure angle else if ang > 360 then put ang - 360 into ang // is in range. put ang / 180.0 * 3.1415927 into ang // convert to radians x1 = cos ang * dis + x // find new location y1 = sin ang * dis + y drawline x, y, x1, y1 // draw line x = x1 y = y1 end // Now that we have a basic turtle graphics engine, we can easily move the turtle pen around with other very simple commands. For example, to move the direction of the turtle 45 degrees to the right, subtract 45 from the global container dir; to move forward 10, call the moveturtle function using an argument of 10; to set the position of the turtle pen, just put new numbers into the global x and y containers. Helm will translate the LOGO program a line at a time into Helm's script language, adding each new group of Helm statements to a string. When the translation is complete, a "set" command will set the script of the form to the string. Helm will automatically compile the script at this point (A similar method of dynamically creating scripts is used in the PlotBook, an example application that comes with the Helm package. It evaluates mathematical expressions by simply inserting the equation into a script and having Helm compile and execute the script). Before we create the translator itself, we need to more clearly define the LOGO syntax it will recognize. It is easy to translate program statements if only a single statement can occupy a single line of code. Also, it is even easier if the commands take the form of a command keyword followed by an optional argument: Consequently, we only have to get the first word of each line to determine the command. The argument will be the words that follow the first word of the line. For example, the command to move forward 10 pixels in LOGO is "Forward 10." To parse this expression in Helm we can write a few simple commands: put "Forward 10" into theLine // In the translator, theLine will // actually be gotten from a line of // program code. get the number of words of theLine if it > 0 then begin put word 1 of theLine into cmd put word 1 to it into arg end Now, that was pretty easy. A more complex syntax would not be so simple but, for this application we will follow the format of one statement per line. Here is the syntax we designed for this very modest implementation of LOGO: Command Use ------------------------------ ------------------------------ FORWARD Move the turtle forward BACKWARD Move the turtle backward RIGHT Turn the turtle to the right LEFT Turn the turtle to the left PENUP The turtle stops drawing as it moves PENDOWN The turtle starts drawing as it moves HOME Move the turtle to the center position COLOR Sets the color of the drawing pen MAKE = Set the value of a variable TO ... END The start of a function REPEAT ... END Repeats the statement block To parse an entire LOGO program, we simply put the parser that we developed into a for-loop that loops as many times as there are lines in the LOGO program. Given that the program is kept in textfield "Program," we can construct an example of this loop... on SelectUp begin global x, y, ang put "LOGOfunc begin\n" into theCode put textfield "Program" into theProgram // Putting the contents of // a textfield that would other // be frequently referenced, will // greatly speed script execution. put the number of line of theProgram into numlines for n = 1 to numline begin get the number of words of theLine if it > 0 then begin put word 1 of theLine into cmd put word 1 to it into arg end if cmd = "Forward" begin put "moveturtle(arg)\n" after theCode end else if cmd = "Right" begin put "subtract arg from ang\n" after theCode end else if cmd = "Left" begin put "add arg to ang\n" after theCode end else begin answer "Cannot understand keyword." exit end end put "end\n" after theCode set the script of this form to theCode LOGOfunc() end As you can see from this function, Helm stores the new script in a container called "theCode". It consists of a dynamically created function called LOGOfunc() After it is constructed, the translator attaches the script to the form and Helm compiles it. Then this newly compiled function is called. As it runs, you should see the artwork created by the movement of the turtle. VPLOGO is only a very tiny subset of LOGO. However, you can enhance it by translating additional statements or you can use the principles of this application to create translators for other languages. Your language will run quickly because even the HelmBrowser includes the entire Helm compiler and interpreter. You simply let Helm do the compiling for you. The ability to compile scripts on the fly also has implications for future versions of Helm. The next major version of Helm will include capabilities for communications using the serial and parallel ports. You could create a custom script language that is used for programs that are transmitted from one computer to another. These custom programs can be instantly compiled and executed when they arrive at their destination sites. For instance, it would be possible to create a special language for presentation graphics. A Helm application will create the presentation at one site and update remote sites by sending programs written in the custom language. The destination Helm book will receive the program and instantly translate it into a Helm script and run it. The presentation will change seamlessly as the new program is executed. @{" Previous Article " link settlers} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @{" Next Article " link artist} @endnode @node artist The *StarShip*'s Featured Amiga Artist in Residence for March    In an electronic exhibit at Gallery 44: Zak Jarvis   _____ by deb Christensen   / _   )   / / ) /ur Amiga Artist in Residence for March, Zak Jarvis, is one of  / (_/ / those people that the original Amiga advertising slogan "The (_____/ Computer For The Creative Mind" was made for. He's had an Amiga since 1988, and currently uses an Amiga 1200 and an Amiga 2500. Resisting all influences of the burgeoning computer marketplace to move to another platform, Zak has remained an avid Amiga fan. He refers to himself as "an artist/writer/game designer" and a "loyal Amiga fanatic." Zak's first art was with a computer, and it continues to be that way today. Like many traditional artists, who study the structures and media of conventional drawing and art techniques, Zak studies the tools and techniques of computer art. His sketches don't start on a piece of paper in a bound sketchbook, but directly on the screen where the Amiga and the mouse give life to his visions. Influenced by artists with and without computers, Zak finds the work of Jim Sachs, Louis Markoya, Bill Graham and Menzies inspiring. Like many of the rest of us, he finds much to admire in many pieces of drawn and rendered art, some of it even unsigned. When it comes to more traditional art forms, he enjoys Bosch, Goya, Maxfield Parish, Pierre Paul Vever and Rene Lalique. You can see some of his production work and style in three of the first issues of the Amiga version of GEnie's LiveWire magazine, the November, December and January issues. Of the ones he worked on, his personal favorite is the December one, where he tried to create the atmosphere of a futuristic cyber-link monitor in the colors and framing of the artwork and interface surrounding the presentation of the articles. You can still download the back issues at GEnie page 20, for free even, and see his beautiful animations and main clip art and small clip arts featured in the December issue. I helped him work on that issue, and I think he has every reason to be very proud of it, too. The spinning globe inside a holocube was featured on two pages in the issue, and is a great example of a beautiful and compact animation. Who can forget the awesome opening screen power button he created to set the mood for the entire December LiveWire, or the blinking LED-like glowing fonts which proclaimed the titles, bylines and navigation limit indicators? Zak just finished the album cover for Eric "SideWinder" Gieseke's first CD album of music - all produced and written on an Amiga - "Future Shock 2". You can take a peek at what the CD jacket art will look like; the picture is part of Zak's exhibit online in the *StarShip*. It's a futuristic landscape, only the landscape is a circuit board. I think you'll find it intriguing. Zak created the imagery with Imagine. In addition to his love for and talent with computer arts, Zak is currently developing a multiplayer game with his girlfriend of several years, Sharon. They live in Syracuse, NY, and share an apartment with his two Amigas, her Macintoshes, and one very dumb cat, Pilgrim. I'd call that a progressive and tolerant household! :) Most of Zak's Amiga artistry is done with DPaint IV and Imagine 2.0. Sometimes he uses Brilliance. He calls his Bernoulli an 'indispensable' tool, and has been going on and on about a new Canon BubbleJet 200 printer. One of the time saving and often-used features of his Amiga systems is Parnet, which networks his two Amigas together. You'll find Zak's work in the March Multimedia ViewPort - the severed parallel cable in The Amigaphile, the jukebox scene in the Blues Machine, as well as the design of the Contents page and the general look of the issue. Look for Zak's art on display in our own Gallery 44, an electronic art exhibit in these files: 13089 BALLRMJP.LZH 57,600 Still: 24bit JPeg of a ballroom. 12576 DARKNESS.LZH 18,816 Still: A picture of suffering. 12673 SKELE2.LZH 111,616 An animation of a skeleton hand. 13237 GREATSWORD.LZH 284,928 Spinning ornate sword anim 20789 BIOSHIPANIM.LHA 931,200 Ham-8 anim of Bio spaceship. 22713 POWERPC_ANIM.LHA 30,848 It's Square, silicon, & it moves! 22716 AMIGA_AD.LZH 6,144 Still: Ad you're not likely to see. You'll be able to share these pictures with your non-Amiga friends, look for the GIF and JPEG versions which will be available in Gallery 44 soon. If you think your project could benefit from an artist of Zak's calibre, contact him. He's taking work on now in 2 or 3-D animations and in stills. You may contact Zak directly in GE-Mail at the address: WINTERLORN or, via Internet, at: WINTERLORN@genie.geis.com @{" Previous Article " link logo} @{" Table of Contents " link Main} @endnode @Node Staff " The ViewPort Staff " @{" The ViewPort Staff " link Staff} Editor: @{" Jim Meyer " link jimm} Publisher: @{" Peggy Herrington " link Peg} Producer: @{" deb Christensen " link deb} Contributing Editors: @{" Sylvia Lutnes " link sylvial } @{" Nick Cook " link nickc } @EndNode @Node jimm " About Jim Meyer " Jim Meyer was one of the first consumers to take an Amiga home, and he hasn't been without one (or two or three) since. When Jim isn't working in multimedia or rendering or writing music or morphing on his Amiga, he's writing about it. Despite being the Editor of ViewPort, Jim also finds time to write a column for LiveWire, as well as user manuals, while precariously balancing a Wok in one hand and a bass guitar in the other. GEnie Mail Address: JIM.MEYER. Internet Address: jim.meyer@genie.geis.comm @EndNode @Node Peg " About Peg Herrington " Peg Herrington, who can be found in the *StarShip* when she's not pounding out another issue of GEnie's LiveWire magazine, recently applied for authorization to change her name to J.Peg Herrington. She is an original Amigan, having experienced it when it was called the Lorraine in a hidden booth in an exhibit at a Chicago trade show. Her claim to fame is having eaten a hamburger cooked by Jay Miner in his very own kitchen. GEnie Mail Address: P.HERRINGTON Internet Addres: p.herrington@genie.geis.com @EndNode @Node deb " About deb Christensen " If you think telecommunicating is impersonal, then you've never talked with Deb Christensen online. It's an experience you won't soon forget. Known far and wide as *deb!*, she's been online since the early 1980s and even survived running the telecommunications division of Commmodore Business Machines at West Chester. An Amiga artist and musician, many of *deb!*'s popular creations may be downloaded from the *StarShip* Library. GEnie Mail Address: DEB Internet Address: deb@genie.geis.com @EndNode @Node sylvial "About Sylvia Lutnes" SYLVIA LUTNES - also known as Crickets - attended Hunter College in Manhattan, where she majored in Art, Philosophy, and Geology. When that didn't pan out, she studied music at Dalcroze Music School, and was even observed singing Christmas carols on a NY subway. Syl finally came to her senses and discovered computers, became a programmer, and took up with her Amiga. Syl hosts the Graphics conference every Friday in the *StarShip* conferencing area. GEnie Mail Address: S.LUTNES Internet Address: s.lutnes@genie.geis.com @EndNode @Node nickc "About Nick Cook" NICK COOK uses his Amigas to handle tasks from the mundane of word processing and spreadsheets, to the creative tasks of creating visuals for presentations to educational and professional groups. He is the newsletter editor for Amiga Friends Users Group of Huntington Beach, CA. Nick enjoys using CanDo and AMOS to create utilities and educational programs for the Amiga. In his spare time, he vaccuums cat hair out of the keyboard. GEnie Mail Address: N.COOK3 Internet Address: n.cook3@genie.geis.com @EndNode @node mikeh Mike Holda (MIKE.AA) has been an Assistant Sysop in the AmiAladdin Support RT for the past several years. Mike uses his Amiga for telecommunications and miscellaneous graphics things. He has been an Amiga user for four years, and owned a Commodore 128 and a VIC-20 before that. @endnode @Node nancyp Nancy Prince works (begrudgingly) as a Tax Consultant. Her real joy, however, comes from freelance graphics and illustration. Nancy operates Prince Graphics, in Vallejo, California, and lists her hobbies as computers, and SysOping on a local BBS. Nancy can be contacted for graphic services at: (707) 643-0793 (707) 644-4395 GEnie Mail Address: P.PRINCE1 Internet Address: p.prince1@genie.geis.com @EndNode @node stevep Steve Plegge, who has been attending to Matters Amiga as a Sysop for longer than some of us have had Amigas, currently works as a VAX programmer specializing in Oracle. When he's not shooting down World War II fighters or grooming the *StarShip* library, he and wife Betsy often contend with one or more of the four cats or two dogs. @endnode @node ericp Eric Penn, who goes by the unlikely nickname of STUPID, has been an Amiga enthusiast since the introduction of the A2000. Initially attracted because of the entertainment possibilities, he has become enamoured of the technical aspects of the machine, occasionally dabbling in C, assembler, and the occasional quick-and-dirty ARexx script. With the purchase of a Supra 2400 in 1988, telecommunications has become his primary passion. He operated a local BBS for three years before it succumbed to the pressures of the real world. He remains very active on many local BBS's, as well as GEnie's Amiga RoundTable, and has been known to spend considerable amounts of time in the online gaming areas of several networks. @endnode @node tomc Tom Cannon is a registered professional engineer who has been designing building structures for the last 14 years in the Washington DC area. His computing time is currently spent desktop publishing and exploring GEnie. When he is not at his keyboard, you can find him on a softball diamond or ski slope. @endnode @node robin Mr. (as in Robin Hood, in case you were wondering) Evans has, in his checkered past, sprayed asbestos onto the ceilings of mobile homes and designed databases for lawyers (two activities that seem somehow related). Between those periods, he edited a biweekly community newspaper in Seattle and typeset enough headlines and stories on a CompuGraphic EditWriter 7500 to realize that computers could be nifty things after all. He was a serious enough philosophy major in college (a time when he thought that computers just might be evil) that he can still give a passable definition of "epistomology" or "ontology." He moved up from a C-64 to his first Amiga (a 500) in 1988 and bought ARexx shortly thereafter. When he discovered what could be done with ARexx by itself and ARexx with TxEd, he was hooked. Evans recently release ARexxGuide 2.0, a complete shareware reference and tutorial to ARexx in AmigaGuide format. It is available in the GEnie libraries under the name ARexxGuide2_0.lha, file #22745 (the regular version) and file #22744, the ReqTools version. He teaches an introductory class in ARexx programming in CALC, GEnie's online community college. @EndNode @node scottn Scott Nickerson, who designed the example books and art that accompany Helm, describes himself as "the Thomas Pynchon of ViewPort authors." No, we have no idea what that means either. @endnode @Node WC West Chester, PA, is the headquarters for Commodore Business Machines. If you'd like to send your thoughts to Commodore, write to them at this address: 1200 Wilson Drive West Chester PA 19380 (215) 431-9100 If you'd like to drop Mehdi Ali a line, you can contact him at: Commodore International Limited 375 Park Avenue New York, NY 10152 @EndNode @node shock F U T U R E S H O C K -------- <<2>> -------- PRESENTING THE NEW CD BY SIDEWINDER 71 MINUTES * 15 TRACKS * %100 AMIGA Announcing the release of a new CD by SideWinder... Taking over a year to create.. Produced by Eric 'SideWinder' Gieseke in 1994 using the Commodore Amiga 2000.. This CD has a variety of High Energy Dance TECHNO/RaVe,Ambiant Tribal and Synth Pop/Jazz styles, for over 71 minutes of digital electronic music.. The CD is called FUTURE SHOCK 2 and is not available in any stores. Using new and unique digital sampling methods for Amiga.. along with the very latest in Amiga Sound enhansing hardware.. such as the Sound Expander by Apogee Technologies,CD Audio quality is in brilliant,hi-fi Stereo unlike any previous Amiga recording.. Mixed down to digital master in a Professional Recording Studio Cover Art Created and rendered by Zak Jarvis.. Rendered and modeled on Amiga 2500 and A1200 Computers using Imagine software.. * Limited Edition first 1000 individually signed and numbered * PRICE: $12.95 + $2.50 S&H UPS Ground service For UPS second day or FedEx delivery call for additional charge Outside USA/Canada $12.95 + $5.00 Shipping & Handling * ORDERS: USA/CANADA (1-800-850-8808) VISA MC DISCOVERY INTERNATIONAL 718-321-0998 * For Check or MO's in us funds send to : SIDEWINDER PRODUCTIONS Payable to Eric Gieseke, 8611 Cape Valley San Antonio,TX 78227 USA tel 210.675.7592 @endnode @Node Info About This Issue There wasn't time to finish up the Emplant vs. A-Max IV series. The good news is that A-Max IV now works with "fast" machines, like the A4000. On the Emplant front, much has changed - you can now cut and paste between the Mac and the Amiga,for example. We'll wrap this series up next issue. We're always looking for material, by the way. If you'd like to contribute to ViewPort, please feel free to drop me a line on GEnie or via Internet. - @{"Jim Meyer" link jimm} Products used for this issue: Amiga 4000/040, AmiAladdin, Brilliance, from Digital Creations, ImageFX from GVP, AdPro, from ASDG, TurboText, from Oxxi, TransWrite and TransSpell, from Gold Disk, Directory Opus, from INOVAtronics, Emplant, from Utilities Unlimited, and A-Max IV, soon to be released by ReadySoft, and Photoshop. And you thought it was easy! @EndNode @Node setup If you want to use a viewer other than WDisplay and you see it on one of the buttons below, click on that button. There's no real magic involved here. All we do is change the Environment Variable we use (viewer) to call the viewer. If you don't see your viewer on the list below, you can simply flip to a Shell and issue the command yourself: SetEnv viewer Note that this viewer MUST be in your current path! @{" Multiview " system "SetEnv viewer Multiview"} @{" VT " system "SetEnv viewer VT"} @{" Mostra " system "SetEnv viewer Mostra"} @{" View " system "SetEnv viewer View"} @{" C-Show " system "SetEnv viewer C-Show"} @{" Show " system "SetEnv viewer Show"} @{" SuperView " system "SetEnv viewer SuperView"} @{" SV " system "SetEnv viewer SV"} @{" Display39 " system "SetEnv viewer Display39"} @{" Display " system "SetEnv viewer Display"} @{" WDisplay " system "alias WDisplay WDisplay"} One more note: Environment Variables have been part of the system since Workbench 1.3. To utilize them, your startup-sequence makes a directory named ENV and performs an assign (Assign ENV: Ram:ENV). If you have any problems, please ensure that ENV has been created and is properly assigned. Then, make sure that AmigaDOS can find everything. ViewPort and the graphics should be in the same directory, and this should be your Current Directory. Finally, AmigaDOS must be able to find the viewer you choose, either by searching the Current Directory or the Paths. You don't really have to go through all this, if you have 2.04 or greater. You can simply use the MAKELINK command to create a link - a "virtual file" that points to the viewer of your choice. Let's say that you want to use VT instead of WDisplay. We'll assume that you keep VT in the SYS:Utilities directory. First, CD to Sys:Utilities. Then, make sure that you don't already have a file called WDisplay. If you do, either rename it, move it, or delete it. Otherwise, you'll get a "object already exists" error. Then, type this command into the shell: makelink wdisplay multiview (Remember - you first create the link (WDisplay) and then indicate which file you want to link to.) Now, do a DIR. You should see a next to WDisplay. This indicates that it's not a file, but a link to another file. You only need to do this once. From then on, every time you call WDisplay, you'll really be calling VT instead. If you encounter any problems (other than a balky viewer that doesn't like our directives), please @{" contact " link jimm} me. @EndNode